Recipe exchange and management system

ABSTRACT

A recipe exchange and management system is provided for a group of related restaurants. The system may be implemented as a network service that provides a series of interfaces or web pages to implement recipe creation, recipe sharing, and recipe and menu management. Users of the system may login with a username and password to access recipe data and menu data of any of two or more restaurants supported by the network service. A recipe may be created by a first user and reviewed by one or more second users of the service. A user associated with a first restaurant of the group of restaurants may access a recipe associated with a second restaurant of the group of restaurants.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation and claims the prioritybenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/649,032 filed Oct. 10,2012, entitled “Recipe Exchange and Management System,” and set to issueas U.S. Pat. No. 9,219,633 on Dec. 22, 2015, the disclosure of which ishereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Restaurant chains such as Kentucky Fried Chicken® typically provide theexact same menu at each and every franchise location. To maintain aconsistent product, fast food chains typically create recipes at acentral location and provide the recipe to each individual franchise. Assuch, each and every franchise restaurant will have the exact same menuand recipe. The process of providing each and every franchise restaurantwith the same centrally devised menu works well for restaurant chains inwhich each franchise provides the exact same product at a low cost. Thefranchise formula for maintaining identical menus, however, does notcarry over to restaurants having separate identities and themes.Additionally, restaurants which provide a fine dining experience providemenus that are not only individualized but also require more skill andtraining than that typically required of a fast food franchiserestaurant.

SUMMARY OF THE CLAIMED INVENTION

Embodiments of technology for exchanging recipes between restaurantmenus of different restaurants are claimed herein.

In a first claimed embodiment, a method for exchanging recipes betweenrestaurant menus of different restaurants includes receiving recipe dataat a server. The recipe data is received from a first user having afirst permission level. The recipe data is associated with a recipe fora menu item of a first menu offered by a first restaurant from aplurality of restaurants. The method includes storing the recipe data inmemory of the server. The method further includes receiving a reviewdecision concerning the recipe data submitted by the first user. Thereview decision is received at the server from a second user. The seconduser has a second permission level, is associated with a secondrestaurant offering a second menu from the plurality of restaurants, andis someone other than the first user who created the recipe data. Themethod includes receiving modifications to the recipe data. The usermodifications are received at the server from the second user when thereview decision received from the second user is a disapproval of therecipe data. The method also includes storing the recipe data in memoryfor subsequent use in a menu item of the second menu when the reviewdecision received from the second user is an approval of the recipedata.

In a second claimed embodiment, a program is embodied on anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The program isexecutable by a processor to perform a method for exchanging recipesbetween restaurant menus of different restaurants. The method includesreceiving recipe data. The recipe data is received from a first userhaving a first permission level. The recipe data is associated with arecipe for a menu item of a first menu offered by a first restaurantfrom a plurality of restaurants. The method includes storing the recipedata in memory. The method further includes receiving a review decisionconcerning the recipe data submitted by the first user. The reviewdecision is received from a second user. The second user has a secondpermission level, is associated with a second restaurant offering asecond menu from the plurality of restaurants, and is someone other thanthe first user who created the recipe data. The method includesreceiving modifications to the recipe data. The user modifications arereceived from the second user when the review decision received from thesecond user is a disapproval of the recipe data. The method alsoincludes storing the recipe data in memory for subsequent use in a menuitem of the second menu when the review decision received from thesecond user is an approval of the recipe data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary recipe exchange and managementsystem.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary interface for a recipe exchange home page.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary interface for a recipe exchange restaurant page.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary interface for an expanded restaurant page.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary interface for a recipe exchange recipe page.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary interface for a dashboard.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary interface for a user profile.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary method for creating a recipe.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary method for sharing a recipe.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a device for implementing the presenttechnology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A recipe exchange and management system is provided for a group ofrelated culinary entities, such as restaurants, culinary groups, andevents. Though restaurants are discussed herein for purposes ofdiscussion, other entities may be used with the present technology. Forentities such as restaurants, the restaurants may be related in thatthey are owned by the same company or are otherwise linked. The systemmay be implemented as a network service. The service may provide aseries of interfaces or web pages to implement recipe creation, recipesharing, and recipe and menu management. Users of the system may loginwith a username and password to access recipe data and menu data of anyof two or more restaurants supported by the network service. The recipeexchange and management system may be used to maintain quality controland for teaching purposes for restaurants which decide to use a recipecreated for another restaurant.

The recipe exchange and management system may be used to create recipe.To create a recipe, new recipe data is received by a server from a uservia a client device. The recipe may include ingredients, a title, costinformation, steps for following the recipe and other information. Therecipe may be put in a review queue until further review by a recipereviewer. The recipe may be reviewed by one or more people. The recipemay be reviewed by someone invited by the recipe author to review therecipe or someone automatically designated to review the recipe.Feedback may be provided for the recipe and the recipe may be modified.If accepted, the recipe may replace a current recipe within a restaurantmenu. If a recipe is replaced, the recipe is automatically moved to thearchived recipes for that particular restaurant. Recipe creation isdescribed in more detail below.

A recipe may be shared through the recipe exchange and managementsystem. A user associated with a first restaurant of the group ofrestaurants may access a recipe associated with a second restaurant ofthe group of restaurants. The recipe may be an active recipe, a draftrecipe not yet finalized, or an archived recipe. The user from thesecond restaurant may view the receipt through a system interface, printthe recipe, email the recipe, and view images and videos relating to therecipe. Recipe sharing is described in more detail below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary recipe exchange and managementsystem. The system of FIG. 1 includes clients 110, 120, and 130,application server 150 and data store 160. Clients 110-130 maycommunicate with application server 150 over network 140. Network 140may be implemented as a private network, public network, WAN, LAN, anintranet, the Internet, or a combination of these networks.

Each of clients 110, 120 and 130 may be implemented as a desktop,laptop, notebook, tablet computer, smart phone, or some other computingdevice. Client 110 includes network browser 112. Network browser 112 mayinclude an application executable to receive content page data fromnetwork 140, render the data, provide an interface as a network page,and communicate with application server 150. In some embodiments, thenetwork page may be implemented as a web page. Clients 120 and 130 mayalso include network browsers 122 and 132 which provide network pagessimilar to those provided by network browser 112. In some embodiments,network browsers 112-132 may provide interfaces such as those discussedwith reference to FIGS. 2-7.

Each of clients 110-130 may be associated with a different restaurant.Client 110, for example may be used by a user employed at a firstrestaurant while client 120 may be used by an employee of a secondrestaurant. Each of the restaurants, however, may be associated with arestaurant group, for example a collection of restaurants owned by asingle company. The restaurants may have different names and differentmenus, but may still be managed or operated within the restaurant group.

The system of FIG. 1 provides restaurant menus and recipe managementservices over a network 140. The recipes and menus may be provided andmanaged for a plurality of related restaurants. Application server 150may communicate with network 140 and provide a network service formanaging and exchanging recipes and other restaurant information.Application server 150 may include one or more servers, such as one ormore web servers for processing communication with network 140 and oneor more application servers for processing requests and providing webcontent over network 140.

Application server 150 may be in communication with one or more datastores 160. Data stores 160 may store information related to the recipeexchange and management system. Some of the data may include recipedata, menu data, user account data, and other data.

To access the network service provided by application server 150, a usermay have an account with the service. A user account may include userdata such as a user name, password, contact information, a position, anda permission level. The position may include the title of the user's jobor duties at restaurant. Examples of positions include sous chef,executive chef, general manager, hostess, maitre d′, busboy, and otherpositions. The permissions may indicate a level of access that aparticular user may have to data maintained by the network service. Aparticular position may be associated with a particular permission. Insome embodiments, different instances of particular positions may havedifferent permissions.

Once an account is created, a user may log into the account by providinga user name and password to an initial login screen. The received username and password is compared to user account information stored in datastore 160. If the submitted user name and password match a storedusername and associated password, the user may be allowed to navigatethrough a series of interfaces and/or web pages provided by the networkservice. The interfaces/web pages may allow the user to access recipesfor restaurants within the restaurant group, restaurant menus, and otherdata. If the username and password do not match, access to the serviceis denied to the user.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary interface for a recipe exchange home page. Homepage 210 includes an interface provided as part of a network service forexchanging and managing recipe data. In some embodiments, the interfaceis provided as a web page through a content browser, such as contentbrowsers 112-132. Home page 210 may include a series of selectable linksnear the top of the page, restaurant information and user actioninformation towards the left of the page, and selectable restaurantlinks toward the right of the page.

Across the top of the home page 210 are selectable header links home220, staff directory 222, search 224, my dashboard 226, profile 228 andlogout 229. A selectable link may be a text, graphic, or other contentthat, when selected, provides new content in at least a portion of orall of a current page. The home link 220 is a selectable link thatnavigates users back to home page 210 regardless of what page they arecurrently on.

Staff directory link 222, when selected, provides a list of staff forall the restaurants, management and other personnel working for therestaurant company. In some embodiments, the list of staff provided isbased upon the role and permission of the user currently logged into thesystem. Search link 224 provides a search box for receiving search termsprovided by a user. Upon receiving the search terms, the system willsearch for content within the network service that matches the searchterms. In some embodiments, the search may be used to find recipesmanaged by the service. For example, a search for “salmon” will returnall recipes that include the word salmon in the content associated withthat recipe.

The “My dashboard” link 226 provides a dashboard for the current user.The dashboard may be an interface providing information to a user, suchas actions to be taken by the user and notifications. A dashboard isdiscussed in more detail below with respect to the interface of FIG. 6.Profile link 228 directs a user to a profile page having user accountinformation. A profile page is discussed in more detail below withrespect to the interface of FIG. 7. Logout link 229 logs the user outfrom the system upon being selected.

Window 230 of home page 210 provides restaurant information and useraction information. The restaurant information is provided as a dropdown menu 232 for selecting a particular restaurant. To select arestaurant, the user would select the drop down menu icon to show a listof restaurants in the restaurant group. The user would then select arestaurant that is shown in a list of restaurants for to view therestaurant page for the restaurants. Also in window 230 is a list ofuser actions. The user actions may include actions that the user mayperform based on the user's permission level. The actions may include,depending on the permission level, returning to a home page, user'sdashboard, create recipe, menu change, and to user's recipe box. In someembodiments, only users with a certain permission level will be able tocreate recipes, change menus, and have access to a recipe box. The “Myprofile” link within window 230 provides a user profile page, similar toprofile link 228 at the top of home page 210.

The restaurant icon area 240 includes selectable icons for eachrestaurant within the group of restaurants linked to the recipe exchangeand management network service. The icons may include text or graphicsthat provide the restaurant name, restaurant logo, and other data thatidentifies the restaurant. When selected, each icon link provides arestaurant page for the selected restaurant. For example, selecting theicon for Restaurant B will result in display of a restaurant page forRestaurant B.

In some embodiments, an indicator may be displayed with respect to arestaurant when a new video, new recipe, or other development occurswith respect to a restaurant. The indicator may be flag, highlight, orother media indicator. The indicator may automatically expire after aperiod of time. For example, a new flag may be superimposed on therestaurant if a new recipe was approved for the restaurant within thelast fifteen days.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary interface for a recipe exchange restaurant page.The restaurant page of FIG. 3 includes selectable header links at thetop of the page as shown in home page 210, a list of availablerestaurant actions towards the left of the page in window 330, and arestaurant menu 340. Window 330 identifies the selected restaurantwithin the drop down menu 332. In restaurant page 310, the selectedrestaurant is “Restaurant B.” Also within window 330 are lists ofrestaurant actions that may be taken for the logged in user. Theparticular actions available to a user may be based on the user'spermission level. The actions displayed include video list, an audittool, menu management, and restaurant management. The video lists link,when selected, provides a list of videos associated with the recipes forthe particular restaurant. The audit tool is an administration tool toaudit and control content for the restaurant. The menu management linkmay be used for uploading menu and recipe data for the currentrestaurant. The restaurant management link, may allow an administratorto manage the people at the restaurant. For example, the restaurantmanagement link may allow an administrator to update a list of currentemployees and their corresponding positions for a particular restaurant.

Menu area 340 includes the menu and other recipe information for theselected restaurant. The particular restaurant for the menu isidentified above menu, identified as “Restaurant B”. A collection ofrecipes makes up the menu for the particular restaurant. Within window340, the collection of recipes includes current recipes, currentcocktails, current component recipes, current cocktail components, draftrecipes and archive recipes. Current recipes may be recipes currently inuse by the restaurant. Current cocktails may include a list of cocktailscurrently in use by the restaurant. Component recipes may include subrecipes used as a building block to provide a portion of a currentrecipe. Current cocktail components are a subcomponent of a cocktailrecipe. Draft recipes are recipes that are not yet used by therestaurant but still in the creation process. Archived recipes arerecipes not used by the restaurant, for examples recipes that have beenreplaced by a new recipe. Each collection of recipes may be selected toprovide an expanded list of recipes.

A recipe exchange restaurant page may include additional features, suchas an education module, document module and event manager module. Theeducation module may be displayed for manager-level user roles and beused to create, administer and manage tests, quizzes, and othereducational training tools. The educational training tools may be usedto provide online and other training and ongoing education exercises andprojects for restaurant personnel.

A document module may provide for uploading, sorting, archiving andmanagement of various documentation, including but not limited tooperational documents, manuals, and spreadsheets. An event managermodule may allow users to enter, track and manage banquet and eventorders, including checklists, customer information, relevant forms, menuplanners, and staff schedulers. The event manager may provide users withthe ability to export and share data with partners and third partieswithout granting them access to the recipe exchange system.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary interface for an expanded restaurant page. Theexpanded restaurant page 410 is similar to restaurant page 310 of FIG. 3except that the current recipes collection has been selected forexpansion. The list of recipes under current recipes includes barappetizers, dinner salads, dinner appetizers, dinner fish, dinner meat,dinner sides and desserts. Within those collections of recipes, thedinner salads recipe has been further selected for expansion. As shown,dinner salad recipes include a recipe for Caesar salad and for spinachsalad. Summary information for each recipe is provided, such as the nameof the recipe, recipe author, the recipe acceptance date and the currentstatus of the recipe. For example, for the Caesar salad recipe, the fullname is Caesar salad, the author is executive chef Jane Smith, therecipe was accepted on Feb. 14, 2012, and the recipe has an activestate. Similarly, the spinach salad recipe was authorized by executivechef John Smith, accepted on Feb. 14, 2012, and is also active. Each ofrecipe summary information 450 and 452 may be selected to provide moreinformation for each recipe.

In some embodiments, when a photo is selected by user input, informationis provided to the user through the interface. For example, if a cursoris placed over a photo, a title and description may be displayed in theinterface.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary interface for a recipe page. A recipe page isprovided upon selection of a recipe provided in an expanded restaurantpage such as page 410. Recipe page 510 is provided in response toreceiving a selection of recipe summary information 452, correspondingto a Caesar salad.

Recipe page 510 includes header area 520, images 530, videos 540,ingredient and component data 550, restaurant associations 560, andrecipe information 570. Header 520 includes the full name of the recipe,a selectable button for printing the recipe, a selectable button forcopying the recipe data to a menu change form, and a selectable buttonfor emailing the recipe. The copy menu allows a user to copy the recipeinformation to a menu change form, creating a template for creating anew recipe from the current recipe data. The data from the recipe may beauto-filled into forms for creating a new recipe.

Images 530 may include one or more images of the dish made by therecipe. Videos 540 may include one or more videos for making andpresenting the dish according to the recipe. Ingredients and components550 may include the name, amount and unit for each ingredient for therecipe. As shown, the ingredients may include individual ingredients aswell as component recipes used to make the current recipe. Eachcomponent recipe may be expandable within the ingredient and componentlisting. Restaurant association 560 may indicate the one or morerestaurants the recipe is their menu and the date the recipe wasapproved for use for the restaurant.

Recipe information 570 includes a variety of information for theparticular recipe. The information may include the exact menu wordingtitle and the exact menu wording descriptive for the recipe. The titleand descriptive are used in menus printed for a restaurant that includesthe recipe dish. For example, in interface 510, the title is “CaesarSalad” and the descriptive is “garlic croutons, Caesar dressing”.

Recipe information 570 may also include a recipe type, menu price, itemcosts, and item cost percentage. The recipe type indicates what sub areaof a menu the recipe appears in, such as “dinner salad”. The menu priceis the price charged for the particular dish while the item cost is theactual cost to the restaurant. The item cost percentage is thepercentage of the item costs to the menu costs, which may be used todetermine the business feasibility of the recipe.

Recipe information may also include proposed components, chef notes, achef link, and method and notes. The proposed components include a listof components listed as part of the recipe. Chef notes include points tokeep in mind for chefs preparing the recipe. A chef link may include alink with more information for a particular ingredient or otherinformation for the recipe. The method and notes may includeinstructions for performing the recipe. Within recipe page 510, thenotes indicate the salad should be tossed with the dressing and thencroutons should be added.

Recipe information 570 may also include a wine recommendation, deliveryverbiage, allergy and marking for the recipe dish. The winerecommendation is a particular wine that may be recommended with thedish and characteristics of the wine. Delivery verbiage includes what aserver should tell a guest as the dish is provided to the guest. Allergyinformation includes a list of ingredients for which allergies may berelevant to the dish. Marking information may include particularutensils that should be provided to a guest who orders the dish.

Once a recipe is created, it may be accessed and shared by users withaccess to the restaurant for which the recipe was made. When a recipe iscopied and submitted to a new restaurant, the submitted recipe data mayinclude the ingredients as well as embedded photos and video. In someembodiments, each recipe may include a media submit selectable inputbutton, which submits the media associated with the recipe. Thisprovides for easy and complete submission of the recipe to therestaurant by a user.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary interface for a dashboard. The dashboard ofinterface 610 is provided upon selection of the “My Dashboard” link inthe selectable header links. The dashboard may include notifications andaction items as well as a user's dashboard identifier within dashboardarea 640. The action items may include recipes pending approval for theuser, menus pending approval, recipes rejected, and new user approvals.Also within the administrative dashboard may include links for usermanagement, user access management, restaurant management, restaurantposition management, restaurant group management, menu type management,recipe type management, recipe affiliation management, and feedbackdata.

User management may provide a list of users, when they were last active,as well as the total recipes for each user. An administrator may editthe name, contact information, position, and permissions for aparticular user. Examples of positions may include executive chef, souschef; VIP guest, general manager, corporate, administrator, and otherroles. User access management may indicate available positions and acorresponding permission. Selecting the user access management link mayalso allow an administrator to change the positions and add newpositions having a corresponding permission. Restaurant management linkmay allow administrator to change general data for a restaurant, such asthe restaurant name, logo, cost information, as well as adding anddeleting a restaurant. Restaurant position management may allow a userto change restaurant positions, such as add a position from a particularrestaurant or remove a position from a particular restaurant. In someembodiments, a restaurant management screen may be shown for a generalmanager role for a particular restaurant.

Several actions may be assigned for various positions. These actions mayinclude submitting a new recipe, assign user positions, remove a userform, approve recipes, upload menus, view recipes with or without costs,approve position requests, manage email lists, view videos andunachieved recipes.

One action may include uploading of a menu. A user with the appropriatepermissions may upload a menu to a restaurant. A menu may also beuploaded for processing through a menu approval process. The menu may beuploaded or received through a content management system connection orfeed.

A link for restaurant group management may allow a user to manage agroup of restaurants under a common name. A link for menu type andmanagement may allow user to assign a menu type when uploading a menu,as well as creating and editing categories. A link for recipe typemanagement may allow user to edit recipe categories. Recipe categoriesmay include dinner, lunch, and so forth. A user may create and edit thecategories using this link. Recipe affiliation management may beavailable for a creator, reviewer, or co-creator and collaboration rolesto be managed. Feedback data, when selected, may enable a user toprovide notes from a feedback panel, the notes may include a name,email, feedback detail, and other data for suggesting improvements,fixing glitches, and other feedback for a recipe.

In some embodiments, a dashboard or administrative panel within adashboard may include an ingredient management action. The ingredientmanagement action may enable a user to add, delete, change, modify orotherwise edit ingredients. The ingredients themselves and the order inwhich they appear may be edited through the ingredient managementaction. This action may change how ingredients appear in data store 160and may keep drop down menus more simplified and cleaner.

A user's dashboard may include information retrieved from outside thenetwork of restaurants. For example, information such as financials,news, inventory data, pricing and labor reports may be provided in auser dashboard. The information may be retrieved via data queries toexternal systems through an API. The retrieved information may then bechanneled to one or more user dashboards, and other portions interfacesprovided by the technology herein, based on administrator setpreferences and user preferences.

A user may also create reports from their dashboard. The reports mayprovide information for a variety of data, including but not limited touser statistics, menu completion audits, cost analysis, team rosters,restaurant level staff usage, and other data. The reports may providedata on a particular user, a restaurant, group of users, group ofrestaurants, or other set of data.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary interface providing a user profile. The userprofile 710 may provide information such as user's name, email, phoneand address information. The profile may also include user name andpassword information, as well as positions associated with theparticular user. The profile may also indicate whether the user willreceive a daily email of notifications and actions such as thoseprovided in the user's dashboard.

A user may configure one or more parameters for receiving notifications.The notifications may relate to activity regarding the user's dashboard,daily email, and other events with respect to the network serviceprovided by the present technology. The alerts may be provided by email,SMS, and other known forms of electronic alerts. The alerts may improvetransparency and visibility as to approvals, edits, changes, new mediauploads, and other events for the user.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary method for creating a recipe. First, recipe datais received from a first user at step 810. The recipe may be associatedwith a first restaurant and may be received from a client by a server.Next, feedback may be received for the recipe data from a second user atstep 820. Some users may review recipe data and provide feedback. Thefeedback may include accepting, rejecting, modifying, offering notes, orrequesting more information for the recipe. The reviewer, a second user,may be invited by the author or may be automatically designated toreview the recipe based on a user position or permission.

The recipe data may be modified based on the feedback at step 830. Themodifications may include adding notes, changing a status from a draftto accepted or rejected, or some other modification. Modified recipedata may be stored at step 840. It may be stored as part of a menu for arestaurant, and may be searchable through an interface provided by thenetwork service with the present technology. The stored recipe data maybe accessed by other users, such as those having a permission to accessa particular draft recipe.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary method for sharing a recipe. Method of FIG. 9begins with receiving recipe data from a first client by a server atstep 910. The client may be associated with a restaurant or userassociated with a first restaurant. The recipe may be a draft or anaccepted recipe per the recipe creation process of FIG. 8.

The recipe data may be stored by servers at step 920. The recipe datamay be stored locally at the server or at a database in communicationwith the server. A request may then be received for the recipe data froma second client at step 930. The second client may be associated with asecond restaurant within a group of restaurants which provide thepresent technology or the user associated with a second restaurantwithin the group of restaurants. The recipe data may then be transmittedto the second client at 940. The recipe may be provided through aninterface provided by a network service managed by the group ofcompanies.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a device for implementing the presenttechnology. FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary computing system 1000 thatmay be used to implement a computing device for use with the presenttechnology. System 1000 of FIG. 10 may be implemented in the contexts ofthe likes of clients 110-130, application server 150, and data store160. The computing system 1000 of FIG. 10 includes one or moreprocessors 1010 and memory 1020. Main memory 1020 may store, in part,instructions and data for execution by processor 1010. Main memory canstore the executable code when in operation. The system 1000 of FIG. 10further includes storage 1030, which may include mass storage andportable storage, antenna 1040, output devices 1050, user input devices1060, a display system 1070, and peripheral devices 1080.

The components shown in FIG. 10 are depicted as being connected via asingle bus 1090. However, the components may be connected through one ormore data transport means. For example, processor unit 1010 and mainmemory 1020 may be connected via a local microprocessor bus, and thestorage 1030, peripheral device(s) 1080 and display system 1070 may beconnected via one or more input/output (I/O) buses.

Storage device 1030, which may include mass storage implemented with amagnetic disk drive or an optical disk drive, may be a non-volatilestorage device for storing data and instructions for use by processorunit 1010. Storage device 1030 can store the system software forimplementing embodiments of the present invention for purposes ofloading that software into main memory 1010.

Portable storage device of storage 1030 operates in conjunction with aportable non-volatile storage medium, such as a floppy disk, compactdisk or Digital video disc, to input and output data and code to andfrom the computer system 1000 of FIG. 10. The system software forimplementing embodiments of the present invention may be stored on sucha portable medium and input to the computer system 1000 via the portablestorage device.

Antenna 1040 may include one or more antennas for communicatingwirelessly with another device. Antenna 1040 may be used, for example,to communicate wirelessly via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, with a cellular network,or with other wireless protocols and systems. The one or more antennasmay be controlled by a processor 1010, which may include a controller,to transmit and receive wireless signals. For example, processor 1010execute programs stored in memory 1020 to control antenna 1040 transmita wireless signal to a cellular network and receive a wireless signalfrom a cellular network.

The system 1000 as shown in FIG. 10 includes output devices 1050 andinput device 1060. Examples of suitable output devices include speakers,printers, network interfaces, and monitors. Input devices 1060 mayinclude a touch screen, microphone, accelerometers, a camera, and otherdevice. Input devices 1060 may include an alpha-numeric keypad, such asa keyboard, for inputting alpha-numeric and other information, or apointing device, such as a mouse, a trackball, stylus, or cursordirection keys.

Display system 1070 may include a liquid crystal display (LCD), LEDdisplay, or other suitable display device. Display system 1070 receivestextual and graphical information, and processes the information foroutput to the display device.

Peripherals 1080 may include any type of computer support device to addadditional functionality to the computer system. For example, peripheraldevice(s) 1080 may include a modem or a router.

The components contained in the computer system 1000 of FIG. 10 arethose typically found in computing system, such as but not limited to adesk top computer, lap top computer, notebook computer, net bookcomputer, tablet computer, smart phone, personal data assistant (PDA),or other computer that may be suitable for use with embodiments of thepresent invention and are intended to represent a broad category of suchcomputer components that are well known in the art. Thus, the computersystem 1000 of FIG. 10 can be a personal computer, hand held computingdevice, telephone, mobile computing device, workstation, server,minicomputer, mainframe computer, or any other computing device. Thecomputer can also include different bus configurations, networkedplatforms, multi-processor platforms, etc. Various operating systems canbe used including Unix, Linux, Windows, Macintosh OS, Palm OS, and othersuitable operating systems.

The foregoing detailed description of the technology herein has beenpresented for purposes of illustration and description. It is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the technology to the precise formdisclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light ofthe above teaching. The described embodiments were chosen in order tobest explain the principles of the technology and its practicalapplication to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilizethe technology in various embodiments and with various modifications asare suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that thescope of the technology be defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for exchanging recipes betweenrestaurant menus of different restaurants, the method comprising:receiving at a server recipe data from a first user having a firstpermission level, the recipe data associated with a recipe for a menuitem of a first menu offered by a first restaurant from a plurality ofrestaurants; storing the recipe data in memory of the server; receivingat the server from a second user a review decision concerning the recipedata submitted by the first user, wherein the second user has a secondpermission level, is associated with a second restaurant offering asecond menu from the plurality of restaurants and is someone other thanthe first user who created the recipe data; receiving at the server fromthe second user modifications to the recipe data submitted by the firstuser when the review decision received from the second user is adisapproval of the recipe data; and storing the recipe data in memoryfor subsequent use in a menu item of the second menu when the reviewdecision received from the second user is an approval of the recipedata.
 1. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipe data includes a videoassociated with the recipe.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipedata includes ingredient cost data.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinthe recipe data includes menu item delivery verbiage.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the recipe data includes recipe notes.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the recipe data is received through an applicationaccessed by a web browser.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the secondmenu is stored in memory and the method further comprises updating thesecond menu to include a menu item based on the recipe data.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising receiving from a plurality of menureviewers a menu review decision to update the second menu to include amenu item based on the recipe data.
 8. The method of claim 8, whereinthe menu review decision is based on a plurality of factors.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising notifying the first user of thestorage of the recipe data in memory for subsequent use in a menu itemof the second menu when the review decision received from the seconduser is an approval of the recipe data.
 10. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, theprogram being executable by a processor to perform a method forexchanging recipes between restaurant menus of different restaurants,the method comprising: receiving recipe data from a first user having afirst permission level, the recipe data associated with a recipe for amenu item of a first menu offered by a first restaurant from a pluralityof restaurants; storing the recipe data in memory; receiving from asecond user a review decision concerning the recipe data submitted bythe first user, wherein the second user has a second permission level,is associated with a second restaurant offering a second menu from theplurality of restaurants and is someone other than the first user whocreated the recipe data; receiving from the second user modifications tothe recipe data submitted by the first user when the review decisionreceived from the second user is a disapproval of the recipe data; andstoring the recipe data in memory for subsequent use in a menu item ofthe second menu when the review decision received from the second useris an approval of the recipe data.
 11. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the recipe dataincludes a video associated with the recipe.
 12. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the recipe dataincludes ingredient cost data.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 10, wherein the recipe data includes, menu itemdelivery verbiage.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 10, wherein the recipe data includes recipe notes. 15.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, whereinthe recipe data is received through an application accessed by a webbrowser.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 10, wherein the second menu is stored in memory and the methodfurther comprises updating the second menu to include a menu item basedon the recipe data.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 10, further comprising receiving from a plurality ofmenu reviewers a menu review decision to update the second menu toinclude a menu item based on the recipe data.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the menu reviewdecision is based on a plurality of factors.